Influence of Protein Source on the Growth of Lambs

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of roasted soybean and sunflower meal on the consumption and growth performance of lambs from the Blackhead Pleven Breed. The results indicated that the addition of roasted soybean caused the lambs to grow significantly faster than those fed sunflower meal (P 0.01). Adding roasted soybean to the feed caused lambs to intake significantly less maize and roughage, while intake more protein feed at the same time. Combined with the significantly higher growth rate (P 0.01), lambs receiving roasted soybean exhibited lower expenditure of dry matter, concentrated feed and raw protein for 1 kg of growth, compared to lambs who were fed with sunflower meal (P 0.01). The intake amount of dry matter had a significant effect on the average daily gain in lambs consuming roasted soybean, with a high correlation coefficient (r=0.645). In both groups of lambs, raw protein and FUG feed units for growth intakes significantly affected the animals’ growth performance.